For this evaluation of the indie offroad driving sport Over the Hill, I used to be contemplating utilizing a phrase alongside the strains of “the chill-out sport of the yr” within the headline, however this rang a niggling bell in my head. I seemed it up, and positive sufficient, I might used this precise framing three years in the past for my preview of Don’t Nod’s excellent rock-climbing game Jusant. That is apt — Over the Hill conjures up related emotions in me, and I’ve compared the two games before.
Like Jusant, Over the Hill presents a clear, aspirational imaginative and prescient of an outdoorsy pastime, all smoothed and streamlined for optimum enjoyable pleasure. Like Jusant, it is a meditative, peaceable sport of exploration that is centered on taking it simple, studying the surroundings rigorously, and being within the second. Like Jusant, it has a fantastic artwork type, foregoing element in favor of chunky, tactile modeling washed in pastel colours and wealthy sundown hues.
In a means, Over the Hill is an much more minimal sport. Jusant has a sparse, near-wordless narrative; Over the Hill does not even have that. Jusant can be a crafted, linear expertise with a begin and a definitive finish. Over the Hill is only a sequence of enormous maps you possibly can discover at will, dotted with issues to find and do. It is playable in four-player co-op, which I did not get to strive however think about is a enjoyable hangout expertise. Performed alone, although, it is a gloriously quiet and soothing expertise.
Over the Hill is the chill-out sport of 2026
Over the Hill is made by Funselektor, a Vancouver-based indie specializing in cool, retro motorsport video games. You would possibly know the studio from Artwork of Rally, a rally sport with a top-down view. Artwork of Rally is extraordinarily fashionable however lacks the dealing with chunk essential to make an old-school arcade racer like this work; I desire this yr’s grungier, sharper Super Woden: Rally Edge.
Funselektor dangers coming off like a hipster poseur in an fanatic world, and that could be the conclusion you’d soar to if you happen to in contrast Over the Hill with hardcore offroading sims like Saber Interactive’s MudRunner and SnowRunner. However Over the Hill comes from a special place, and the studio’s method works significantly better right here than it did with Artwork of Rally. Founder Dune Casu is a motorsport fanatic and self-described “journey seeker” who generally works out of a camper van, creating video games as he roams across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Over the Hill is a sport about driving a 4×4 over troublesome terrain, positive, however it’s additionally — moreso — a sport about communing with a panorama as you progress by means of it.
Like Artwork of Rally, it is stuffed with unlicensed, pleasingly toylike fashions of iconic automobiles of the late twentieth century: the beginning automobile is a pretend Land Rover Defender, and over time you possibly can unlock lookalikes of such classics because the Toyota Land Cruiser, Ford Bronco, even the Unimog truck. Soar in and begin exploring, following bumpy trails or heading fully off monitor. The controls are fairly easy: excessive and low gear, headlamps, handbrake, and a winch to get you out of hassle.
As you discover you discover cabins, which act as fast-travel factors and can be stayed at to advance time. Over the Hill has a day/night time cycle and generally inclement climate that may make progress troublesome, though seeing its gorgeous landscapes throughout all these altering situations is an enormous a part of the enjoyable. You additionally come throughout crates, which unlock new beauty customizations on your automobiles: mudflaps, bicycle racks, roof racks filled with tenting gear or crates of beer. Typically you discover an deserted automobile it’s good to tow to a cabin, or a problem path.
All of those discoveries reward forex which can be utilized to improve your automobile with a stronger engine, higher tires, higher safety towards waterlogging the engine, and so forth. Importantly, it’s also possible to unlock stock slots for objects that may get you out of a jam when issues get robust: a jack for repositioning a flipped truck, planks, a transportable winch level, a bell that clears the climate. These develop into very important when issues get robust.
Sure, as enjoyable as it’s, Over the Hill can get robust. The problem trails specifically step issues up a gear, as you choose your means over a swamp on a rotting boardwalk, rock-crawl up a mountain go, or inch alongside a desert cliff at a precarious angle. Simply go sluggish and watch the terrain rigorously.
There is a greater meta-challenge to the sport, too, which is to resolve the puzzle of its environments. This is not instantly obvious within the first map, a steep-sided mountain valley within the Canadian Rockies. However transfer to the Algerian desert and the map turns into a type of layered riddle, with factors of curiosity situated excessive up on stone mesas that tower above the sand dunes. Determining how one can attain them includes some intricate, three-dimensional psychological mapping in addition to planning and driving ability.
For those who run out of exploring inspiration, or wish to grind out upgrades for a brand new automobile, it’s also possible to equip a meteorite radar, which drops a precious area rock at a random location on the map and provides you solely a compass route with which to search out it. This might be significantly enjoyable as a co-op exercise, however even solo, it is an effective way to refresh your perspective on the panorama, particularly on a map you have already totally explored. You may as well take photographs of native wildlife to fill a modest compendium.
That’s completely all there may be to Over the Hill, and this minimalism is the sport’s finest characteristic. It is a sport gloriously devoid of characteristic creep or noise, of cut-off dates or competitors: a refreshing, head-clearing area. In its quietly rugged means, it is the right cozy sport. You watch your valiant little 4×4 crawl and bounce throughout a luscious wilderness because the solar rises and ambient guitar music wafts by means of the audio system and really feel your coronary heart fill with a type of entranced persistence. There is not any rush. You may get there ultimately.
Over the Hill is out now on Home windows PC. (Nintendo Change 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X variations are due in 2027.) The sport was reviewed utilizing a prerelease obtain code offered by Funselektor. You’ll find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.